"Growing up in a family steeped in Native activism, I learned at a young age about Russell Means' fight for the people. As a college student, I learned Means wasn't the saintly folk hero I had made him out to be. As an adult, I learned no one is perfect, and few people have fought so hard for his people as Means did.

In many ways, my development as a Native man has been defined by the evolution in my thinking about Means. I can truly say no other public figure has affected me so profoundly, and I felt real sorrow when I learned of his death early Monday morning.

True to himself to the end, Means didn’t give up in August 2011 when he was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He fought it using traditional Native healing remedies and prayer and announced earlier this year that he was cancer-free. But within the past few weeks, he had announced the cancer had returned and spread."

Get the Story:
Kevin Abourezk: Activist Russell Means a true Native catalyst (The Lincoln Journal Star 10/23)

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